Satan doesn't need us to give up all of our convictions, to stand on a stage and declare atheism, to murder someone, or become an addict-- in order to prove we are his.
Satan rejoices when we manipulate a little bite of sexy, share a little drink of alcohol, compromise on His Sabbath day, or tell a little white lie. Because we step in His territory, we give sin a try and we feel the shame.
Often that bite is enough to subdue us- for us to know evil, our fleshly selves, desire gratification and more. It's a trap that leads us further down the road to depression, and guilt, and isolation. It's the little things that numb the pain of sin- that make us "used to" the deeds of the flesh and the way of darkness.
It always starts small-- just a bite.
If we look back to Genesis- creation's story- and our beginning- we see the fall of mankind. It can literally be found in one chapter- one small act- one bite from a tree.
Eve was given an instruction and she failed to obey. Although it may have been just an apple-- just a blueberry-- or just a round peach..
Her choice- big or small- cursed mankind forever.
It introduced guilt and shame. Adam and Eve could no longer be naked, and tragically paragraphs later, the first murder- from Eve's own child- Cain happened. Humanity went from perfect and beautiful to cursed under the reign of Satan in just a bite.
How could it go from so pure to so evil so quickly?
And yet sometimes even as I look at myself, or the friends I've grown up with.. I have to wonder something similar.
How are we losing so many people to the church?
How are so many people falling away to sin?
How is it so easy for myself- to give away principles I have grown up with, to trade in a treasure for a "bite of sin"?
So many dear friends, with amazing families, have given up on their promise to wait until marriage to have sex, or to not get drunk, or to keep the Sabbath day holy. They have maybe married unbelievers, or began watching R rated movies.. and all of a sudden, they're working any day of the week and don't look any different than any other unbeliever in the world?
And if I sound harsh and critical, trust me, I'm currently judging myself too. Asking forgiveness, for the times I compromise on the little things, because they can bring us down so quickly. It's the little things that change us.. they make up who we are.
Maybe denying God often isn't a big moment where we say "No I reject Him" but maybe it happens in the little decisions we make that slip us up. The small things we were called to be faithful in, that we let go of. We take that little bite- and soon we've fallen captive to Satan's traps- we're now eating his appetizers at his favorite restaurant.
Friends, Satan is cunning and he is prowling like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8 teaches us so, and I've also seen his power and pull in my life and in the lives of my friends.
But we can stand strong, if we choose to put on the armor of God. We have to equip in the daily battle so that we can overcome Satan in the big things.
Stand firm then, with the belt of TRUTH fastened around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace... (Ephesians 6:14).
They say the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions and I don't know about you but it scares me. It scares me in Matthew where people say "Hey Jesus I know you-- and he says wait who are you. Depart from me you can't enter into my kingdom." And maybe sometimes that's because little by little we've made decisions that take us down a different path.. a path not so straight and narrow.
I don't know about you- but I think Jesus has been convicting me that I need to be more faithful in the little things.
What little things can we do differently in order to glorify Him and show Jesus that we are followers of Him?
